Cardinal Blase Cupich on the Separation of Immigrant Children


Religious leaders across the country are increasingly weighing in on the highly charged situation along the U.S.-Mexico border. For his part, Pope Francis has openly criticized President Donald Trump on the policy of separating children from parents, calling it “immoral.”

The U.S. Catholic bishops also oppose the policy. Cardinal Blase Cupich released a statement with stark language. “There is nothing remotely Christian, American, or morally defensible about a policy that takes children away from their parents and warehouses them in cages. This is being carried out in our name and the shame is on us all.”

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In an unusual step, the United Methodist Church has brought church charges, including child abuse, against its member, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Those charges come as the attorney general cited the bible in defending immigration policies.


Sessions defended the use of that bible passage to the Christian Broadcast News. “I don’t think it was an extreme position that I took,” he said.

“I directed it not to say that religion requires these laws on immigration. I just simply said to my Christian friends, ‘You know, the United States has laws and I believe that Paul was clear in Romans that we should try to follow the laws of government of which we are a part.’”

That controversial bible passage has been used to justify slavery. Rev. James Martin, S.J., an American Jesuit priest and the editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America says Sessions’ statement was a total misinterpretation of Romans 13.

“I thought it was obscene to use the Bible to justify sin,” said Martin to Newsweek. “That passage in Saint Paul is about observing civic rule. All of Paul talks about how God’s supersedes man’s law. So to use that to justify ripping away kids from their parents and putting them in cages I thought was really appalling.”

Cupich joins us to talk about the church’s opposition to the border policies as well as its new Family Reunification Fund, the cardinal’s recent meeting with the pope and the new facility in Chicago to help the homeless.


Related stories:

Trump Reverses Course on Family Separations After Outcry

Rauner Calls Separating Families ‘Wrong’ But Mum on Border Troops

Chicago Groups Challenge Trump Administration on Immigration


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